Based on the screenshots posted by YouTube users on various forums such as Reddit and Twitter, it seems that YouTube Premium will become the only way to watch 4K videos on the website, and this move might not sit well with a lot of people.
YouTube Resorts to Locking 4K Video Playback for YouTube Premium Users Only
Some users have recently started noticing this on iOS and across other platforms as well. YouTube now simply says that if you want to watch videos in 4K, you will have to subscribe to YouTube Premium subscriber. However, at this point, you need to know that this feature is not appearing for everyone, and we are not sure if the company is going to move forward with this plan.
— Alvin (@sondesix) October 1, 2022 Another important thing to note here is that the standard YouTube Premium plan is going to cost you $11.99 in the United States, and for the price you are paying, you are getting an ad-free video experience, background playback, the ability to download videos for offline viewing, and more. So, all of this means that YouTube just wants to charge more money to introduce a better overall video quality, and this is not going to be bode well with a lot of users. At the time of writing, we are not sure if the next feature to come to YouTube Premium is going to be this 4K option or not. However, if the company does implement this, I believe it will be in bad faith because you are simply taking away a feature that is already available to everyone and locking it behind a paywall. Are you willing to go ahead and spend $11.99 just so you can watch YouTube videos in 4K, or are you okay with lower resolutions? Let us know your thoughts about this move.
